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Networking is your best friend as a freelancer. Like ‘a friend in need is a friend indeed,’ there’s plenty of help you can get out of being a well-networked freelancer. Let’s take a look at a few advantages of having a big freelancing circle at your disposal. • Can be your Santa Claus on-call: Desperate times call for desperate measures. Surely, you must have experienced at least one such hopeless situation in your freelancing journey. However, when your contact list mirrors an elephant list, there’s always hope. You’re just a couple of calls away from getting help that’ll pull you out of the mud you’re stuck in. Their timely aid will make your breath a sigh of relief. What’s more, knowing that they’ve got your back will give you the confidence to even take up jobs that are challenging to begin with.

• Helps you magnify knowledge: Surely, you’ll have people of the same ilk in your network, which means you can easily share knowledge and innovations with them. There can be planned workshops and/ or programs on the same. Or an occasional get-together where ideas can be exchanged and discussed. All in all, what really counts is that your knowledge and skills will be sharpened, if you’re connected to a group of well-informed people on a regular basis.

• Finding ‘the going tough?’ Here’s your source of motivation: Yes, you can use your network as a source of motivation, too. There will be times when you’re distracted and unable to focus on work. Maybe things are going haywire in your personal life. Perhaps you doubt your own abilities to deliver. In scenarios like these, your circle will be a source of much needed motivation for you. They’ll remind you of whom you are, what have you achieved so far and what heights are you capable of rising to. Which can show you the way to get your career back on track.

• A pool of work for you to dip in: Your network will be your endorser to land you new projects. Your name will be suggested in case someone is getting on with other assignments and cannot do justice to an upcoming one. Also, certain jobs require a joint effort for which you will be called in. Clearly, having a big freelancing circle at your disposal is a pool of work for you to dip in.

• Enhances your bargaining power: Lastly, your bargaining power gets a boost, if you’re a well-networked freelancer. Suppose, a client finds your quote for a contract to be expensive, they’re most likely approach someone else, possibly someone you know or an acquaintance. In a network, word travel fast so the news of your quote being rejected would have spread before the client contacts the next freelancer for a proposal. Upon learning about the amount of effort required to complete the arrangement, other freelancers will quote similar fee.

Hence the client will have to return to you and accept the terms. Enhancing your bargaining power. For a freelancer, networking has its significance and the sooner you realize it, the better for your career.